Farmers, Mariners, and Lords of Long Ago Archaeology and Prehistory in the Agder Region
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farmers, mariners, and lords of long ago Archaeology and prehistory in the Agder region By Frans-Arne Stylegar VEST-AGDER FYLKESKOMMUNE The author wishes to thank a number of people who contributed to this book, each in his/her own way: Dag Nævestad, Tor Kviljo, Karl Ragnar Gjertsen, Erik Peersen, Berit Sellevold, Martin Rundkvist, Aslak Fjermedal, Annette Booth, Ole Bertil Madsen, Torinn Hageland, Snorre Haukalid, Pål Nymoen, Tom Bloch-Nakkerud, Svein Mjaatvedt, Tom Heibreen and May-Liss Bøe Sollund. ISSN 1504-7520 Reports from the Departement of Regional Development, Vest-Agder County Council farmers, mariners, and lords of long ago Archaeology and prehistory in the Agder region contents The landscape - 6 The irst settlers - 26 Early farming - 40 Farmers and mariners - 52 Romans and barbarians - 74 Aristocrats of the Migration period - 102 Kings and vikings - 146 Portal from Hylestad stave church, Valle: Detail showing Regin forging a sword. Regin is working with hammer and tongs, while a helper operates the bellows . the landscape It is a commonplace of tourist brochures to state that a given region has ’everything’. But when it comes Agder, Norway’s southernmost region, it is almost true. Even if the two Agder counties are rather small com- pared to other Norwegian regions, the nature is remarkably varied and so are the ways of life. Just recently I woke up at the Penne farm to a Eidsfjorden with Listeid and Briseid, Farsund. Elle farm in the foreground to the working-day on Lista. It was May, and the sun was shining. Dressed in right. Isthmuses like Listeid and Briseid shorts and t-shirt I went ahead with my business, surveying bronze-age were for a long period natural routes of Agder is the southernmost region in Norway, comprising the communication, and yachts are still being rock-art. If I had cared for it, I’d might have taken a bath in the North modern-day counties of Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder. It borders transported across Listeid to avoid the dangerous sea route around the Lista Sea. As it were, I didn’t. Instead I drove to Sirdal in the upland region, on Rogaland in the west and Telemark in the east. A number of long, but mostly narrow valleys runs through the region from peninsula. Photo: Tom Heibreen, Museum of Cultural History, Oslo. since I had a meeting there the next day. Half-way up the long Sirdal val- north to south. These valleys encompass major river systems ley it started snowing. Really snowing! Again, if I had cared for it, I could – Nidelva, Tovdalselva, Otra, Audna and Sira to name but a few, and the valleys are separated by rather low hilly and mountain- probably have caught a glimpse of one of the herds of wild reindeer ous areas. Except for the Lista peninsula in the south-western – the last of its kind in Europe – that graze the mountain areas between corner of the region, the major settlement districts in Agder Sirdal and Setesdal. The total driving length that day was no more than are located near these rivers, and today most of the towns and cities in the region lie at the intersection between river and sea, 120 km. Agder is indeed a place of opposites! It is also in a very real such as Arendal at the Nidelva and Kristiansand at both the sense a border land – between south and north, between east and west, Topdalselva and the Otra. and between rootedness and tradition on the one hand, and entrepre- The great Ra moraine reaches the shore in Fjære near Grim- neurship and faraway travels on the other. Moreover it is a landscape stad after running through Agder in a south-eastern direction. where past and present mix in a very peculiar way, and where the signa- The Ra acts as a natural barrage and several of the major tures of the past are still intensely present in today’s landscape. inland lakes in Vest-Agder, like the Mannlåvatn and the Sirdalsvatn, owe their existence to the Ra. The moraine soils are rich, and the Ra moraine in Agder has accommodated a number of settlement districts not aligned to the main rivers. the landscape 7 Lista is a special case. Its elevated, low-lying, and tree- less landscape with its soils consisting partly of marine deposits has been compared to Jæren further west, but 1 3 also to Jutland. Lista has through the times attracted a rather large population, and its many sites from most periods give it a prominent place in the archaeology in 2 Agder. Through most of historical times, the region was divided into three, sometimes four, administrative districts 1. The Mollestad oak in Birkenes is a rare example of a giant – Råbyggelag or Setesdal in the upland, mountainous oak, several centuries old. While most large oak trees in Agder were used for ship building or exported to Holland area with its central settlement areas situated on the up- or England during the 17th-1th centuries, the Mollestad per Otra river, and in the coastal region Lista in the west oak was an exception. It was believed to be inhabited by earth and Nedenes in the east, with Mandal occupying the mid- spirits (Norw. vetter), and in the 1th century people still offered dle ground. Cape Lindesnes acted as a natural border the spirits food, milk, and ale as gifts. If the oak got damaged it would seriously harm the farm and its inhabitants. Photo: between east and west, and as a landmark separating Frans-Arne Stylegar, Vest-Agder County Council. western and eastern Norway – in the Viking Period even separating Norway and Denmark. In archaeological re- 2. Rock shelter at Skreppevasslega, Sirdal. spects Lindesnes or the Naze acted as a cultural border Photo: Torinn N. Hageland, Vest-Agder County Council. at least in some periods, with pronounced differences 3. View from the beacon at Mønstremyrvarden, Flekkefjord. in the material culture on either side. The upland area Allegedly, one can see seven different parishes from here. centred on Setesdal also stands out as different from Photo: Frans-Arne Stylegar, Vest-Agder County Council. the coastal districts when it comes to material culture, especially towards the end of prehistory. the landscape Aerial view of Lista. The Lista peninsula with its characteristic villages is one of the oldest man-made landscapes in Norway. Photo: Tor Kviljo. 10 the landscape 11 Farming landscape on western Lista. Photo: Tor Kviljo 12 the landscape 13 Moor landscape from Isefjær, Lillesand. Photo: Tor Kviljo. Oksøy in the Kristiansand skerries. Photo: Tor Kviljo. 14 the landscape 15 FLYFOTO: Dette er kun en bildetekst og ikke noe annet Traditionally some of the main land routes between southwestern and eastern Norway passed through Sirdal. A route across the Valevatn lake (left) and down the Hunnedalen valley led to Stavanger and northern Jæren. A Roman period situla rescued from a scree near Valevatn might be connected to this trafic. Another route through Gyadalen (right) led to Egersund and Dalane. Photo: Tor Kviljo. 16 the landscape 17 Lighthouse in Ryvingen, Mandal. Photo: Tor Kviljo. From Epledalen, Lyngdal. Photo: Tor Kviljo. 1 the landscape 1 The old harbour at Lyngøysund, Kristiansand. Photo: Erik Peersen. Audna river at Snik, Lindesnes. Photo: Tor Kviljo. Knaben, Kvinesdal. Photo: Tor Kviljo. 20 the landscape 21 From Tovdalselva river, Åmli. Photo: Tor Kviljo. 22 the landscape 23 From Stigselva, Birkenes. Photo: Tor Kviljo. 24 the landscape 25 Portal from Hylestad stave church, Valle: Detail showing Sigurd testing the sword’s strength by breaking it over an anvil. the irst settlers .600 years ago a group of people were living in their own island paradise in what is now Søgne in Vest-Agder. They were a robust kind of The Sigersvoll ind – the ’irst’ people, healthy, and probably living in afluence just by spending a few Mesolithic ind from Norway. Photo: Museum of Cultural His- hours each day ishing, hunting sea-mammals, shooting fowl, or gather- tory, Oslo. ing edible plants. We have no idea what kind of language they used, but they did speak. Their brains were as big and as functional as ours. They were modern human beings in every physiological sense of the word, and they led a life perfectly atuned to the natural rhythm of their island Garden of Eden. Death, too, however, was part of their life, and it seems that they buried their dead family members close to where they lived. This is where some of them were found by archaeologists in 14. Over the last Ice Age Agder was, as was Scandinavia as the area bordering on Telemark. Since rising sea-levels a whole, covered by a thick ice-sheet. Since the melting was also part of the equation during the deglaciation, Skeletal remains of perhaps as many as ive individuals have been exca- of the ice-sheet – a process which was not completed there was a constant interplay between land elevation vated from a shallow bay at one small island in Søgne. The irst individual until c. ,500 years ago, the additional weight was gone and sea-level rise. In some regions, notably the coastal being found, an adult woman, was baptized ’Sol’ (Sun) by the people who and the land started to rebound. The pressure exer- areas between Søgne and Stavanger, rising sea-level in cised by the ice-sheet varied between different regions, the late Mesolithic caused large patches of dry land to found her. To this day she is the oldest human skeleton found in Norway. and so did the land elevation that followed. Thus, while be submerged.